Friday, May 16, 2014

100s Detroit Black Pastors Denounce 'Gay Rights'

Catholic leaders and pastors of many denominations across Michigan are unified in their message calling all Christian leaders to boldly speak to their congregations and to their government to dispel the fiction of the "Gay Agenda" and to make clear the reality, the truth, of "God's Agenda" regarding marriage and family.

“We believe that marriage between one man and one woman creates the best possible environment for the health and wellness of children. While we agree that every American has a right to choose to live as he or she wants, no one is entitled to redefine marriage.”-- Pastor Lennell Caldwell, First Baptist World Changers Detroit“God does not agree with this kind of [homosexual] behavior; [it's] despicable -- an abomination.”-- Rev. James Crowder, president of Westside Ministerial Alliance Of Detroit“We love everybody, but we don’t love the [homosexual] lifestyle. [It's a] small group of people trying to destroy the [country's] foundation. It’s time to take our nation back.”-- Pastor Rex Evans, Free Will Baptist Church (Ypsilanti, MI)“We will not follow men who would rather believe a lie than the truth. We cannot and we will not endorse anyone who blatantly blasphemies the Word of God and leads people in the wrong direction.”-- Rev. Dr. Randolph Thomas, Senior Pastor of Greater Bethlehem Church (Detroit, MI), president of the Baptist Pastors Fellowship of Detroit and Vicinity

"There's no surer way to destroy the backbone of a society, the family, than to destroy an institution like marriage and destroy its meaning," said Pastor Stacy Swimp of the Revive Alive Missional Ministry [Flint, MI].

"A lot of the exceptional nature of our country is Judeo-Christian," said Dr. Rader Johnson of the Greater Bible Way Temple. Johnson believes those values are under attack, "By an immoral, materialistic culture, namely, the gay rights movement," he said.

Gay rights supporters compare their legal win at the federal courthouse to the one blacks received with the passing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Pastors say there's no comparison.

Representing potentially millions of worshipers in the state, the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, and a national coalition of Baptists, Lutherans, Mormons and evangelicals led by Catholic bishops filed three separate briefs Wednesday in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. The briefs back Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette in his efforts to defend the state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, which was overturned earlier this year by a federal judge in Detroit.

Joining [Pastor Stacy Swimp] were leaders with various Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholic and non-denominational churches in Michigan, including the head of the influential Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity. The pastors represent hundreds of churches across metro Detroit and included leaders with denominations such as Church of God in Christ (COGIC) that are popular in Detroit and strongly opposed to same-sex marriage.

Catholic leaders in Michigan also oppose same-sex marriage, saying in their brief Wednesday that the voters’ will must not be overturned. Archbishop of Detroit Allen Vigneron, spiritual leader of 1.3 million Catholics in metro Detroit, has said that people who support gay marriage should not present themselves for holy Communion.

A separate brief was filed Wednesday by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), the lead public voice of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

They were joined by the National Association of Evangelicals, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon Church), the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protest denomination in the U.S., and Lutheran Church — Missouri Synod. All of the groups have substantial numbers in Michigan.

“God has left that on record in the Bible,” said [Rev. James] Crowder, pastor of the St. Galilee Baptist Church in Detroit. . . .

Crowder made the remarks during a Wednesday media conference where a coalition of mostly African-American ministers announced plans to file a brief with the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals opposing the legalization of gay marriage in Michigan.

Also Wednesday, the Michigan Catholic Conference filed a brief with the court on behalf of diocesan Catholic bishops.

“We have made this legal contribution to preserve and promote the time-honored institution of marriage that brings male and female together in a unique way for children and for the common good,” Paul Long, the Catholic Conference’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “... The legal briefs to be filed today make clear that support for natural marriage does not impugn the dignity that must be afforded to all human persons, regardless of their orientation.”

“To state that marriage redefinition is in any way similar to the civil rights movement is intellectually empty, dishonest and manufactured”, said Minister Stacy Swimp, founder of Revive Alive Missional Ministry. “When has anyone from the LGBT demographic ever been publicly lynched, specifically excluded from moving into neighborhoods, prohibited from sitting on “a jury and denied the right to sue others because of their sexual preferences?”

Pastor James Crowder, of St. Galilee Baptist Church and president of the Westside Minister’s Alliance, Detroit, Michigan, also weighed on the narrative of sexual orientation being a civil right. . . . “On stage are many actors who pretend that redefining traditional marriage is as valid as Blacks fighting against the carnage of chattel slavery and the humiliation of Jim Crow. Never have I been so insulted. The curtain must be pulled down on this play of disinformation.”

The Black Detroit Pastors and Christian leaders are calling on Christians from all the States under the jurisdiction of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to stand with them in taking advantage of the Court’s rule which allows them to file an Amicus brief.

"We wanted to hold the press conference to help get the message out that God is not dead. Moreover that there is yet a remnant of God's people who are willing to contend for the faith in the churches and in our local communities," said Swimp.

"The Civil Rights movement was based upon a righteous cause. Pastors led Christians around the nation to demand that government be true to the U.S. Constitution and uphold our God-given right of freedom," said Swimp.

"It was not a movement to break down the family or strip children of the only thing that can possibly unite them with their mom and dad: marriage."

“In the end, I would rather be on the wrong side of public opinion than on the wrong side of Almighty God who established the standard of living for the world He created. Marriage is a biblically moral issue, not a political or theological one.”

“This debate is ultimately about something much more important than the question of same-sex marriage,” said Rev. Graham. “It is about the great compromise, calling into question the authority of Scripture. If Christians do not agree concerning the authority of Scripture, we will eventually disagree about all sorts of things.”

He continued, “The church is on dangerous ground when it departs from the teaching of Christ and attempts to redefine His commands and compromise His truth. There are many things in Scripture that Christians disagree on, but the Bible is crystal clear about the sanctity of life and marriage. It is also clear that homosexuality is spelled out as sin—there are no ifs, ands or buts.”

“In our country today, there is tremendous pressure on Christians, churches, and Christian organizations to lower our moral standards. God is clear in His Word, and His standards never change.”